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Sunday, 28 April 2013

I wrote last week about me and exercise and how I want to be able to run again. And how difficult it has been since I have tried. Shins haven't hurt the way that they used to, but my calves have. Normally I can hit about the minute mark and they have been tightening up and no amount of stretching before and after jogs or icing seems to have helped.

I've been at a bit of a loss over what to do if I'm honest, and at times been so very tempted to just pack it in.
So I was thinking of things to get me properly motivated and needing to do it again and I thought of the race for life. Now I have done this before (and blogged about it), and the race this year takes the same route so I know what to expect. But this year, signing up isn't enough. I got both my friend Anna and my sister signed up too!

So that was motivation for all of a week and in that week I have had the super super painful calves which I am now believing (must be) to do with my hydration levels. So I'm trying to up my water intake. Trying.
I'm racing the morning race on the 2nd June and looking forward to it, I did really enjoy the last race I participated in and am hoping this year it should be more fun with more people.

Friday, 26 April 2013

This week I lost a pound and three quarters, bringing the total since I have rejoined to 5 and 3/4. Not much considering how many weeks I've been rejoined, but good when I consider that's 3 full weeks of actively trying and actually sticking on plan.

It could have been more but I didn't do as much exercise as I should have (story of my life at the minute). I would say this week I want to work on that, but by the time I have got round to writing this it is Friday and I'm pretty much at the half way point of my weightwatchers week.

I've decide to focus on what I've been doing that is good, because I have been losing, and if I focus on what I need to change at this rate I will get overwhelmed and give up.

I have been exceptionally organised these last few weeks. I have myself into a routine where I am ensuring I have a healthy packed lunch for going into work and I go for a 40 minute walk at lunch time. And I've kept small point snacks in my drawer at work to make sure I am not tempted to walk over to the sweetie table (yeah people who work in offices love their cake don't they? But more of that in another post).

And Gavin came up with this marvellous idea, a sea food paella. Made with mussels, king prawns with chilli and garlic and coriander and frozen veg it was a beautiful meal. And for only 8pp for this big bowl it will soon take up residence as one of the house specialities. Yum yum.

8pp seafood paella, prawns and mussels.

And Gav brought this home. I love garlic, I'm a total garlic fiend and when this is in the fridge I am a very happy lady and I got thinking how much I love weightwatchers and the fact that nothing is out of bounds. 30g of this is 3pp. Now that is 3pp well used in my opinion.

3pp for 30grams. Love weightwatchers, little bit of what you fancy

sparkling water.

Oh but my organising was not limited to being at work and home. I went to the cinema and was prepared enough to bring these in my bag. 5propoints to eat should I want it - I didn't, I just drank my juice, but it was great to know I had something completely pointed in my bag should I want it. Speaking of which, you should go and see The Croods, it was hilarious and left me really wanting a sabre-toothed chunky kitty cat.

Organised 5pp cinema trip junk food.

And just because soon I won't be walking in this area any more I wanted to post a picture, this is my favourite stretch of path on one of my walks.

walking

Being organised is always my key to success, and with that portion control.
I have pointed everything to pass my lips before I eat it, I have managed to do some sort of exercise every day and my water intake has improved.

Sunday, 21 April 2013

I have been trying to get myself back into exercise mode for what now feel like years. It's not happening because so far I haven't been able to find anything I can enjoy.
Back when I was actually losing weight on this journey I ran, cycled, played wii like games and had the occasional zumba or burlesque class. I loved it all, looked forward to it all.
None of those things are doing it for me now. When I do force myself to do it I feel pleased about doing it when it's done but that's just it, I don't get the enjoyment of doing any more. I dread doing it, count the seconds until I can stop and yay. Just yay, it is done.

I realise I can't continue like this, and this time I am losing weight forever. I need to adjust my head. And what exercise means to me.
When I hit goal again I will need to continue to exercise, not let it whittle away into a distant memory. I used to be so good at this. In school I love P.E. I played netball for ten year and winning a lot. I played football, basketball, gaelic, tennis, badminton, there was a lot, as well as my beloved swimming. And I remember loving it, loving the competition as well as the sports themselves. Looking back it's like looking at a different person.

I know I need to find something and make it my routine to do, but for me to actually stick to that, I need to enjoy it. I just wish I could work out what it was.
I like running, but mostly just for the feeling of accomplishment I get at the end, and because it's been so long since I last ran properly I obviously can't do it any more, even to a bad standard let alone what I used to be capable of. I am trying to force myself back into this because of the satisfied feeling I get at the end but so far it's difficult.

Then there is cycling. I love cycling, it was something I've only really done as an adult. I had a bike as a kid but didn't ride much after about the age of seven. I love my bike too, it's the same colour as the bike I had as a kid and cycling is just fun.

An old picture from when Gav and I went on a cycling adventure.

The excuse I have with cycling is just how dangerous it is, I am not a confident cycler, I much prefer to be with others if I go cycling and when I use it for transport it's been to commute to my last place of work. As both a driver and a cyclist I am petrified of the roads. People are so ridiculously dangerous. Latest examples have been

watching a cyclist get into a right turn only lane and then decide to drive straight on and then start screaming at the driver whose lane he just cycles into without looking around him.

watching a cyclist trying to turn left onto a main road, the car behind him decided he wasn't going fast enough so overtakes.

But I digress, the fact remains, I hate cycling on the road and there are no cycle lanes in my part of the city. I have a park not too far from my home which is the only place I cycle, but it's a small park and it gets very boring very quickly, especially if you have no company. I know I should cycle more to become more confident but the fact remains I do not want to get scrubbed by either another cyclist or a car.

The gym. I just don't care for them. I don't care for sharing machinery and often doubt the cleanliness of machines, I have my own treadmill and exercise bike anyway and those are the two machines I use most. If I join a gym it would be for the classes, but I then I'm not sure about my cash flow at the minute. So for now, that is out. I don't have a gym handy to me anyway.

I've been doing yoga recently, I used to do this a lot when I was a teenager and recently, it is the only thing I have enjoyed doing. Pure me time in my living room on my mat. Problem is that it isn't cardio.

And then there is walking, probably the only thing I enjoy doing, and I won't stop doing it. But I want to add something else to it. On a weekday I walk at least 4miles for activity points, that's how I am earning them at the minute. I'm not sure about weekends because I haven't measured the routes I take yet. I know I need to mix things up though.

I just honestly have no idea where I am with exercise any more. Other than knowing I need to find something I enjoy and place it firmly into my life.
What do you enjoy? Tweet me @sazzle182

Friday, 19 April 2013

Goodness, this will be the second post within a week, I didn't think I would be wanting to write again yet here we are.

I had my weigh in this week, and I must say, I was very pleased with the results. I worked very hard and was expecting a loss, I was hoping between a pound and 2lb loss. So the happiness when I stood on the scales and found a 3.5lbs loss was... well great!
That was the first full week in what feels like years that I was entirely in control.

I set myself rules,

I tracked everything before I ate it. Which is made so much easier by a fully functioning weightwatchers app for android.

I set a minimum of three activity propoints a day I had to earn.

I organised walks with friends and family so I had no choice but do them, too often I promise myself I am going to do work and I don't. I enjoyed the company and the exercise.

I need to be strict with myself so I switched my plan that I have to use my activity points before weekly points. This way, if I want to go over daily budget, I know I have to work for them.

And it worked! I took this screen-shot on my phone on Monday night (my week resets at weigh in on a Tuesday morning)

I am so pleased I managed to not dip into my weekly points, and it was worth it! I have been gaining and losing this last 2lbs for too many weeks. Hopefully I have broke this, and will manage to keep it off.
So this week I am trying to do the same over again.

Although my activity level isn't as high as it was last week, to date I have still managed to earn 13 activity points (and I haven't dipped into them yet). I'm going to (hopefully) do some yoga later and cycle for a while, but I want to talk about my exercise in a different post. This post is just a recap on my week and looking into the next one.

I've been putting pictures of various dinners up on my instagram account, so if you follow me there you probably have seen these already, but here are some of the dinners I managed to photograph before munching.

13PP

Roast dinners are normally too bland for me (worst Irish person ever), and any time I take a notion for one I normally head down to my mammy's house. But I took a notion for Turkey and decided to do the rest. This entire plate was just 12propoints, what you cannot see is the spicy gravy that me and Gav make (think regular gravy loaded with Tabasco and crushed chillies). It was delicious, even if I did make the batter for Yorkshire puddings then forget to actually cook them.

9pp

This is a kind of house speciality and I think one of Gav's preferred dinners, our home made beef burgers, again nothing too bland because I am a great lover of spice, our mix for this includes tobasco, piri piri spice, crushed chilli flakes, along with whatever other spices I have in the cupboard that day. Served with a bran topped wholemeal bap, salad, a tiny amount of cheese and ketchup. Always a winner.

8PP

I know I have said this before but I love fajitas, there is just something about them that I adore and it has to be one of my favourite dinners. Veggie or chicken being the absolute best in my eyes. These ones were a flour tortilla, hot salsa, mixed salad, chicken, peppers, onions, scallions, garlic and whole chillies, and of course powdered spice mix. I could very easily eat this everyday but I try not to.

I said in my last post I want to mix up my dinners a bit, but so far I haven't really. I got myself a slow cooker so I am hoping to be able to use that for something good. I have had it nearly two weeks and it still hasn't been used. Hopefully this weekend, if anyone has a nice recipe please feel free to send it my way :-)

Sunday, 14 April 2013

I have been back on weightwatchers for a few months now, initially doing well but then hitting a plateau. So things needed shaken up. I can't stand losing and gaining the same 2lbs over and over again.

I am still doing weightwatchers online. And it does work, but I need that little bit more support, so I am doing a weekly check in with one of my besties (Anna) who is also doing it online. Tuesday past was our first weigh in together and I put on half a pound. I was disgusted with myself, I was expecting a loss despite going out for dinner at Rocky Horror Cabaret and a takeaway. Thinking back over the week it was a bit ridiculous expecting a loss, even with the exercise I did (lots of walking).

Anyhey, here's a few pictures from Rocky horror night,

Myself and the awesome Emma (@intheseheels). I look drunk here, I wasn't I had half a glass of prosecco.

Brilliant and catchy ukulele entertainment

Riff raff, his hair was nuts and he made us laugh so much

I'm not drinking alcohol at the minute and they had nothing for any alcohol free cocktails, so I made do with home made lemonade and long waiting water.

Duck starter, very soft, don't think I would try again though

Chicken for my main, much nicer than the starter but still not great to be honest.

It was a brilliant night, if you do go to the Supper Club though, don't expect great food or service, do not under any circumstances try the chips but the entertainment was great for the most part. Would love to see it again.

Anyway, just looking at the food above and the takeaway that I didn't even take pictures of, it's a miracle I only put on half a pound.

But it has me firm that I want a proper loss this week, to the point that holy crap, I actually want to blog.

The weightwatchers android app has been updated again and I must say, it is outstanding. A beautiful interface and it actually works, with very few bugs that I have encountered so far and it supports the higher end android devices. I love how I can actually track on it and to be honest, it has been my saviour this week, I find physically writing my food and activity into a diary or the trackers tend to start well but I forget, so far I have done very well with the app. Possibly because it is new, but I hope that this is turning into a good habit.

Which brings me to the last week or so's food porn,

Caesar Salad and beer, 4 propoints

Olives, 2 propoints.

The Zero heroes Fruit & Veg bowl and my beautiful new table cloth!

Spicy Chicken and Rice, 10 propoints.

The most delicious fruit salad for breakfast, 0propoints, pity I had no Greek yoghurt on hand that day.

I baked these wee scones, they were somewhere between a scone and rockcake, 4 propoints each with butter and jam.

Hairy bikers!

We went and seen the Hairy Bikers last Sunday, an awesome evening out, they were hilarious and made the most amazing smelling food, what I also loved that the recipes were in the programme, which I obviously had to buy and make an attempt at.

half of this entire pan for only 6propoints!

That curry was such good value for points, I do love spicy foods, this will be a staple in my diet now. I regret not buying their curry cook book at the gig. I have been quite bored of our diet at the minute. I like on fajitas it seems. So I've been asking twitter for inspiration, what is your favourite lunch and dinner? I'd love to know.